“Terrible, terrible”, repeats María Pérez Conchilla, referring to the eight sexual assaults (with 20 identified minors) that have occurred in Badalona in the last 11 months. And she speaks knowingly. María Pérez is a doctor in Psychology, sexologist, founder of the Espill Institute of Psychology and Sexology and former vice president of the World Association for Sexual Health.
Surprised by the news that talks about minors –many of whom have not yet turned 14– that their girlfriends offer their friends to rape them? "More than surprised, very anguished," responds María Pérez.
He stresses that from many entities, associations, organizations and institutes specialized in analyzing sexual behavior "for many years now we have been warning that these sexual assaults at such an early age are going to increase if the problem is not seriously addressed."
The information that comes to her from Badalona is for this psychologist like "an announced chronicle" and she does not glimpse where the limit of these aggressors is, each time more ruthless and emboldened by acting in a group.
Nor is it surprised, “as terrible as it is”, that at least four of those identified minors have participated with different groups in various violations. "This is the most indisputable proof that we are not doing things right," says María Pérez.
What is failing? If some of these early Badalona rapists reoffended when they were already under the radar of a court or under the umbrella of Children (those under 14 years of age) due to a previous attack, the answer is clear. Here the protocols planned to redirect these behaviors have failed.
On paper everything seems very clear – the Government is working to adapt the current protocol of 2012 to the new realities – but in practice there are many who doubt that these measures are effective.
Lluís Ballester, doctor in sociology and social researcher at the University of the Balearic Islands, advocates reviewing these protocols. "Punishment, monitoring or isolation are not enough to rebuild behavior patterns," he says.
It is necessary to apply, adds this expert, "programs based on scientific evidence, protocols that include cognitive therapies and adjusted to the new reality."
The details of attacks as brutal as those reported in Badalona (a minor said she was unable to count the number of people on her) show that "these rapists have lost all limits of reality."
The most serious thing is that "they believe they are reinforced, once the act is completed." And their environment – it occurs with the visits of colleagues from the boarding schools in Badalona juvenile centers to encourage these alleged rapists – “considers them little less than heroes”, adds Ballester.
For this sociologist, who has spent years researching this type of aggression, these precocious sexual offenders "only do what they see in the violent porn they consume from a very young age." That would be now, he adds, the worst of epidemics.
And viewing these scenes repeatedly causes "there is a disconnection of empathy." It is something similar to the lack of feelings of a racist, says Ballester, or the soldier who goes to war. "They think they are doing nothing wrong."
The consequences of this consumption of violent porn "are tragic." And the cause-effect relationship is already "demonstrated with dozens of real causes."
